The MataBlog is edited by Matador Records’ co-moaner Gerard Cosloy and individual entries are the work of whoever’s name is next to them. If you enjoyed something in the MataBlog, thank you very much! If there was something you found particularly troubling, please be advised that a) maybe you should read it again and b) the contents of this blog do not necessarily represent the opinions of Matador Records, Beggars Group, the combined staff of either company, nor the Matador artist roster. Opinions are like friends — hardly anyone has one worth listening to.

CONTEST ALERT: Artist Christine Marlene is responsible for the watercolor covering Spoon's new album Hot Thoughts. She made a piece for each song, all of which can be viewed on the band's Instagram account right now. If you're inspired or looking to get your hands on some tickets to see Spoon live OR get an original piece of art, you're in luck. Both are within reach.

Make your own Hot Thoughts gallery in Instagram with #SpoonHotThoughts and you'll have a chance to win one or both of those prizes.

And also a huge thank you to everyone who submitted art work for the Kurt Vile Spotify Art Contest last month. There were so many incredible submissions. These below are dubbed honorable mention. The winning work will be announced on Friday.

Sasha Taran

Jason Green

Tomke Berning

Andreas Geier

Kurt Vile is currently touring across Europe. All upcoming dates below. b'lieve i'm goin down... is out now.

In case you'd forgotten (how could you?!) the Kurt Vile and the Violators European tour begins this week. Full ticket links are available over at http://kurtvile.com/live/.

We also just got word that Steve Powers, he of Wakin On A Pretty Daze artwork-fame is exhibiting in Brussels right this second. You can get the full info about the exhibition, which is taking place at the Alice Gallery, over at Arrested Motion.

And to return the favour to Mr Powers, Kurt is going to play an acoustic set at the gallery before his show at the AB, Brussels, on Sunday night - 26th May.

Matador HQ have just received the first batch of Deluxe LPs for Kurt Vile's upcoming release, Wakin On A Pretty Daze. We thought we'd give you a sneak peak on what fun lies ahead if you decide to decorate your own copy. Props to Annette Lee for hand modelling and Chris Leckie for giffing.

A reminder - the Deluxe Double LP comes on blue vinyl and features a special cover without the graffiti and includes a sticker sheet of graffiti icons for purchasers to customize their own copy. Limited to 3,500 copies in the US and only available directly from Matador or at independent record stores.

You'll remember earlier this year Iceage visited New York to play two shows and help present the 'Thrown Together' gallery event, an art exhibition featuring some artworks from their friends local and global. Los Angeles-based artist/photographer/director/label boss Cali Thornhill Dewitt came along for the ride and produced a striking short film tracking the band's activities that weekend in the city & shots of the visuals on display, set to live audio of "Morals" from 'You're Nothing' -- you can watch this below or at Pitchfork.TV today.

Along with revising the storied logos for Thrill Jockey, 4AD, Merge and Audible Hiss Drag City, designer Ben Geier has taken a crack at Matador's family crest (above). Paste Magazine's Laura Medina writes, "Anti, Sub Pop and Matador never looked so good." I'll refrain from comment on Geier's updates to Anti and Sub Pop, but where Matador is concerned, I still prefer Mark Ohe's classic logo.

As you might have seen drifting around the internet, Philadelphia's own Kurt Vile has put a less than subtle indicator towards a new record on the side of an abandoned building in the city's Northern Liberties.

A lesser known fact is that the mural was created by renowned street artist Steve Powers (aka ESPO) who, along with Kurt, talks us through the painting of the mural in the video below.

When we initially announced the release of the new Iceage albumYou're Nothing we mentioned that pre-orders would include a band designed poster in addition to being 15% off. Taking a good idea and making it great, instead of a band designed poster we are now offering a up a band designed flag, and for you poster aficionados we will still be throwing in a regular poster to boot.

The flag which measures 12x8" and includes a heading and grommets can be seen below.

The band will also find themselves on US shores this week for a few shows, including:

(above : angry mob reacts to the news that at least two or 3 people didn't even mention the Total Control 7")

Around this time every year, your overpaid overworked editor attempts to coax a list of favorite recordings, books, television programs, life events, etc. out of the label's artist roster and our rock biz colleagues. In the past, the exercise has been an arduous process, fraught with nagging, teeth-gnashing and no shortage of reluctant participants. In more recent times, however, the serial oversharing epidemic that's run rampant throughout all online activity has infected our bands and staff alike. The rhetorical question, "who fucking asked you?" cannot be applied in this instance, because they were all asked. For some historical perspective, here's last year's pile. Questions or comments about our lousy tastes and/or blatant omissions are welcome (but not necessarily appreciated). And away we go!

Damian Abraham, Fucked Up

My fav records that I acquired off my want list this year:

Da Slyme - "st" (with 1/1 FUCKED UP "Couple Tracks cover" haha) DBLP- I got this thru Hits and Misses (RIP) in Toronto but it came from the drummer I believe. It didn't have a cover but the covers were just spraypainted covers of random records, so my friend Woody made me a copy of his cover and I recreated the stencil on a Fucked Up lp. A seminal Canadian record that I have wanted since I read about it in the Smash the State lp insert.

From Rotate This in Toronto. A top tier Killed By Death jam if there ever was one. Dutch punk so good that when asked what it sounds like all I can offer is: "Kindaperfect"

Slapshot - "Back On The Map" LP - Test Press #16 (my lucky number)Traded this from my brother for a record I had given my wife. Does that make me a bad person?

Deja Voodoo - "Hiekkaa Hietarannan" 7" - I bought this from the guy that did our show in Tampere. The og lo-fi garage two piece's hardestto find single... in their native Canada at-least.

V/A - "Triple Cross Counter Tour Compilation" 7" -The last Bastard record I needed and I managed to have exactly enough cash on me to buy it and still have enough change to get back to the hotel on the subway as I was facing the nightmare scenario of having a bank card that wouldn't work while in a Japanese record store.

LSD - "Jast Last" ("dead model" cover) 7" - Bought this on an earlier trip this year to Japan. Buying Japanese hardcore records in Japan is the perk of being in a touring band that I had desired the longest... Yay me!

Dezerter - "Underground Out Of Poland" LPI found this at She Said Boom in Toronto having looked for it forever. Polish hardcore that was smuggled out from behind the iron curtain by Joey Keithley from Canadian hardcore legends DOA (who sadly called it a day this year so: RIP). RAGING political hardcore produced under a government that wasn't always the biggest fan of such expression I would imagine.

Kiddeo - "Kids Can Rock" LP -Picked this up at Sonic Boom in Toronto. A soundtrack album for the 80's kid's tv show. I grew up clowning on this show with my brother. A show for kids featuring a clown make-up wearing rock and roll band was sure to raise the ire of a precocious surly eight year old. Now as a parent I yearn for this to be put into reruns so I could watch it with my three year old.

d.b.s. - "Snowball" 7"Another trade pick up. I first saw the video for this song on The Wedge (the tv show I host now... watch... please). Although they were not the first punk band I had ever heard, they were the first band that showed me that I could do it too. They were a bunch of kids slightly older then my 14 year old self touring the world and playing punk. It made me want to start my first band... who was nowhere near as good as d.b.s. While this is not an exceptionally valuable record it took me forever to find it.

Negative Approach "st" (rejected test press) 7"The source shall remain anonymous but I did have to sell close to 400 records out of the collection to buy it. The record itself needs no introduction. The rejected test press was the holy grail of record collecting for mesince I learnt of it's existence 12 years ago. I had a chance to get it and I went for it... if for no other reason than to prevent the 23 year old from traveling thru time and space to beat my ass for not going for it.

My favourite records of the year were"Angels of darkness, demons of light II" by Earth and "WIXIW" By Liars. Earth for soundtracking strolls around the city at both day and night. The Liars record is probably my favourite of theirs, the style and sounds they use on it really suit them.

Best live show, hands down, Swans at Koko. Totally captivating.

Saw some cool films, " Beasts of the Southern Wild" was probably my favourite fictional one. The father/daughter relationship in that is a thing of beauty. Set against this crazy apocalyptic bayou setting called The Bathtub, a real top film in my opinion. As for documentaries "Nostalgia for the light" and "Marina Abramovich, the artist is always present" were really fascinating and inspiring respectively.Gregg Foreman ~ Cat Power / Pink Mountaintops / Black Ryder / The Meek

'Autoluminescent' - Rowland Howard Film (2011 but wasn't available for USA til 2012)'Lawless' - (Film written by Nick Cave)Cold Cave / American Nightmare - (Live)Willis Earl Beale - (Live)Chelsea Wolfe - 'Unknown Rooms' (LP)Cat Power - 'Sun' (Ha had to , but it is a great record)Austin Psych Fest 2012 - Music Festival produced by the Black Angels in Austin TxThe Laurels - Aussie Psych BandStrangers Family Band - Live (Los Angeles Psychedelia produced by Steve Kille of Dead Meadow)

My ten favourite days of 2012:1. April 13-15, 20-22: Meeting Snoop Dog, Dave Chapelle, and Fred Armison at Coachella2. June 1-2: Primavera Sound3. June 17: Doing mushrooms at the MMVA's and losing4. July 29: Playing Fuji Rock in Japan and winning5. August 4: Playing Sappyfest in New Brunswick6. August 5-9: Visiting St. John's, Newfoundland7. August 31: Playing Mexico City for the first time8. September 24: Being nominated for a second Polaris Prize9. November 3-4: Playing back-to-back shows in Tokyo and Austin10. November 22-24: Playing Turkey for the first time.

Thurston Moore, Chelsea Light Moving, Sonic Youth

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH6BamI1gsM[/youtube]

1.The ZZZ's (live at the Jellyfish Brother’s crib, Miami FLA) I went down to play a solo gig in Mami during Art Basel and the next morning I'm having Cubano breakfast with Rat Bastard. We're gonna do a secret noise show in a warehouse that night and when I walk out on the street to lick some sunrays this kid comes up to me and sez he's the son of David Amram (jazz bop poet pianist who pal'd around with Kerouac) and he's touring around with a Japanese girl trio and they're looking for a gig. I say "hold on", and I fetch Rat and he meets them and they say "we are noise group" and he sez "be at the warehouse at midnight and you can play" and they do and they are AMAZING. A cross between Gong and Teenage jesus. I haven't stood there so enjoyingly stunned in front of a band since maybe seeing Afri Rampo (also Japanese girl noise) tear shit up when they first came over ten years ago.

2. Richard Hell — I Dreamed I was a Very Clean Tramp: An Autobiography (Ecco books) - I been waiting to read Hell’s memoir since hearing excerpts of it from his strange mouth a solid year or so ago. I was taken aback as he talked of his relationship with Tom Verlaine, his cohort and co-founder of Television, one of the most significant groups in the lineage New York City rock n roll history. He exposed his retrospective feelings of their difficult friendship without contempt or vitriol but allowing the realiy of emotional discomfort that such alien boys may have with each other come under some personal analysis. This is “Life” for those of us who become dreamy when considering the advent of punk rock. Hell’s details can be knowingly sloppy but their’s enough prosaic insight here to send chills down any punk rock historian’s spine. I mean he did invent this shit.

3. Café Oto (music café, Dalston East London) - I have big time reasons to relocate to London these days, and the closer I can be to Café Oto the better. At least three times a week this joint hosts startling perfromances of musc from in and out of the margins. Improvisor legends old and young, traveling radical noise creeps, song stretchers, dance, theatre — I just spent three nights there with The Ex where they curated a showcase celebrating their 33 1/3 years as a band. Every minute was awesome. Incredible zone with no stage and killer shochu (with cold green tea – recommended) and very good, friendly vibes. Up the street is the Vortex for most straight up avant jazz action. Fuck it, I like the rain.

4. The jazz kissas of Tokyo Japan — I’m not much of bar hanger outer at all, even though I mention Café Oto and I do like to swill shaggys at Great Jones Café as poured by Mark Ibold but after all the years of hitting Japan and beelining around to the record sttores that have the best revenue of 2nd hand jazz vinyl IN THE UNIVERSE I never knew to much abut the culture of the “jazz kissa”. This is a joint that serves sake, beer and coffee and spins jazz LPs exclusively on perfectly tuned hi fi analog sound equipment. The most famous one in Shinjuku is DIG which started in the early 60s and advertised itself as supplying “Booze + Jazz”. I spent an evening there looking through the scrapbooks of it’s owner where he shot photos of Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis – everyone — and a lot of these cats, back in the day, would set up in the corner sometimes and rip a session. The jazz kissa, a throwback to the heady day of post war Japan when American jazz became a rallying sound of imperialist liberation, may be a quaint reminder of bygone times but the ones that do exist, and some are rather recent, are exquisite. I happened upon one in the Jimbocho area where all the used bookstores are, called Big Boy. It had an awesome sound system, almost akin to the way reggae sound systems are, as far as fetishization goes, and when I asked to hear a track off a Bill Evans LP, the proprietor pulled out a mint mono copy and a stereo one as well and asked which I’d like to hear. I chose mono, natch, and then and there Bill Evans, long thought deceased, appeared in the room with attendant piano, CONJURED!

Visuals/eventsRise And Fall of Apartheid - International Center of Photography (NYC)Yayoi Kusama exhibit - Tate Modern (London)Adam Fuchs - all that Captain Murphy shitRock And Roll Billboards of the Sunset Strip by Robert Landau (Blake says 2013 is gonna get real tight)Flying Lotus - that whole campaignSleigh Bells - the first few things on that campaignPS1 Warmup (props to Dean, Chen and crew!)The Bell Labs complex in Holmdel, NJ (unofficial tour)

1. The Men - Open Your Heart (Sacred Bones) - Few albums this year got me as supremely stoked upon each listen as this one. It absolutely shreds, while perfectly showcasing a band taking their already-established strengths and pushing them into a whole new territory. The spacey jammed-out tracks are equally as engaging as the straight up face-melters, sometimes even more so, and the first two songs alone are worth the price of admission. I saw them over the summer and the set was pretty much all completely new material, stuff that was on some serious modern-day Neil Young type shit. Can’t wait to hear what they do next.

2. Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It (Matador) - Beautiful. Just beautiful. Every track is equal parts devastating heartbreak and (somehow) joyous, uplifting hope. And that fact the he can implement that formula 12 times in a row, each time at three and a half minutes or less, without it ever losing any of its potency is totally mind-blowing. The dude just gets it. The aural definition of the word “sublime”.

3. Liars - WIXIW (Mute) - Over the summer I was working this job in downtown Brooklyn that would usually have me getting out around 1-2am, and for about two weeks this is literally all I would listen to during my long and lonely commute home on the G train. It just seemed to fit so well because, much like living in a giant urban sprawl such as New York, the whole album has this pervading feeling of nervous, passive dread; it’s like sensing some really terrible force (be it physical, mental, or spiritual) existing somewhere just beyond the surface that never chooses to fully show itself. It’s always there but you can’t quite put your finger on it. And that’s what really scares you.

4. Ceremony - Zoo (Matador) - There are still moments when I play this album and can hardly believe that it came from a group of guys whose first album (and overall M.O.) was “Violence Violence”. Making fast brutal noise is all well and good, and I love hardcore just as much as the next guy who grew up in suburban Pennsylvania/New Jersey/Long Island. But I’m also a sucker for a great pop hook and solid musicianship, and here they brilliantly balance the best of both worlds while also proving just how well-versed they are musically. I mean, shit! Some tracks on here are almost straight up surf rock! It rules! I honestly feel that any of their old fans who trash this record simply need to grow the fuck up. It’s clear that Ceremony has, and man, just listen to what happened.

5. Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan (Domino) - A lot of people nowadays (myself included) are pretty quick to write off Brooklyn’s current indie rock giants. Animal Collective has gotten too weird and annoying (even by their standards), Grizzly Bear has gotten too frumpy and boring, etc. But these guys, I just can’t deny ‘em. Their output has been so consistently strong, and I sincerely believe that this is the best record they’ve ever made. Again, a perfect combination of styles old and new. The first time I heard that riff kick in on Offspring Are Blank I actually had a minor physical freak-out over how good it was. Chills throughout my body, shaky hands, the works. Granted, I was insanely stoned at the time, but nonetheless. The whole record plays through on this totally weirdo neo-White-Album-era-Beatles wavelength and the results are just really, really pleasurable.

6. Menomena - Moms (Barsuk) - After everything these guys have been through they could have either called it quits or just started putting out really mediocre records, but instead they’ve worked through all their inner turmoils and come back stronger than ever. Further reason as to why they’re one of my absolute favorite current bands.

7. Ty Segall Band - Slaughterhouse (In The Red) - Everything he put out this year was solid, but this one definitely trumps them all for me. It just fucking rips.

8. Dan Deacon - America (Domino) - Gorgeous, intelligent, transcendent. And above all else, like with the rest of his records you can still totally lose your mind and dance like a maniac to it. The whole USA suite is concrete proof that the man is an absolute genius and a true modern-day composer.

9. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! (Constellation) - Really didn’t see this one coming (hell, no one did) so my inner-16-year-old was absolutely ECSTATIC when, in typical Godspeed fashion, it kind of just quietly appeared out of nowhere one day back in October. The night that Hurricane Sandy hit the city I was holed up alone in my apartment getting drunk with this blasting on repeat, totally anticipating the end of world.

10. Thee Oh Sees - Putrifiers II (In The Red) - Another year, another fantastic album from Dwyer and Co. At this point I don’t think it’s possible that they’ll ever put out a recording I won’t like.

performances / exhibits..."Misterman" at St. Ann's Warehouse, Brooklyn (technically saw this very late in December 2011)The Stones at the Barclays, Brooklyn (Dec.8) (I've not even gone to this show as of submission deadline but assuming I'll want it on the list)The Everymen at everywhereMaurizio Cattelan: All, Guggenheim

print...Cloud Atlas by David MitchellThe Sense Of An Ending by Julian BarnesA Very Irregular Head: The Life of Syd Barrett by Rob ChapmanMaking It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy by Deborah RothschildThe Paris Wife by Paula McLainNYMag weekly crosswordBlake Thomas, Beggars Group

Visiting LA for the first time and hanging out with Chrissy and the guys from Activision at Venice BeachHaving dim sum with our sub publishers for SE Asia in Hong Kong whilst on vacation over thereSuccessfully completing 3 half marathons in London, Brighton and RichmondThe 4AD party in New York in JuneLearning to sail a yachtAlbums of the year -Django DjangoCat PowerShows of the year:Bobby Womack at the Apple instore in soho, New YorkMagnetic North at Wilton's music hall in east LondonEsben and the Witch at Heaven in central LondonLemonade at Madame Jo Jo's in central LondonSBTRKT at Reading festival

Triumph of Life 7""It's pretty much just a picture of a bird (the extinct Black Mamo) but then when you look closer you see that what makes the picture and the bird significant is the flower it's standing on, whose petals are perfectly formed to fit this bird's beak, and no other. This holds with the syncretic message that most FU songs are about, our 'anti-dualism' vibes."

The Chemistry of Common Life LP"If you look closely you can tell that its not just one image, but a composite of about 35 different shots lined up on top of each other, which is why you have some people and cars overlapping, and explains the relative brightness of the sun, and the lens flare everywhere. The shot is supposed to represent the main idea behind the record, which is the unity between culture and nature, and the idea that the literal source for all human culture and life is the sun. Even though the title is taken from a 19th century book on wild mushroom identification, what it means for the album is how everything that's cultural about our lives has its source in nature and science, and that there really isn't a divide between the two spheres."

Baiting the Public 7""Probably my favourite sleeve that we've done. This was only our third 7" release. The front image is meant to be a metaphor for what we thought we were in punk, and what punk was in the world (we were really into punk at that point) - a pack of rats running over a proper looking young woman in bed."

"The inside was more to the heart of what this record was about, which was more or less a tribute to the Actionists, a radical art group in 1960s Austria. The inner picture depicts one of their 'events' which is basically a naked man aiming a naked woman at a roomful of people. The Actionists, along with the Situationists, who were another big 'influence' of ours at the time, were admired because of their blatant attempts to challenge and shock rather than pander to their audience."

ABOUT

The MataBlog is edited by Matador Records’ co-moaner Gerard Cosloy and individual entries are the work of whoever’s name is next to them. If you enjoyed something in the MataBlog, thank you very much! If there was something you found particularly troubling, please be advised that a) maybe you should read it again and b) the contents of this blog do not necessarily represent the opinions of Matador Records, Beggars Group, the combined staff of either company, nor the Matador artist roster. Opinions are like friends — hardly anyone has one worth listening to.